The more that corporate work force strategy dictates unit-level policies – that is, the more that unit-level human resources simply involves implementing policies and practices set down at the corporate level the more sense there is in having a direct reporting relationship from unit-level to corporate human resources. But on balance, people tend to favor having a unit report to a top management, with a dotted-line relationship to corporate relations. The reasons are: to encourage customization, to fit the specific environment, strategy, demography, and technological needs of the unit; and to reinforce the idea that it is general management at the appropriate level that should formulate and implement human resources strategy. If specialists advise top management, then they should report to unit-level top management. We can only envision a good case for having unit-level report directly to corporate when consistency of personnel practices throughout the organization is ultra-important-say, because people and information move across unit boundaries all the time – or when corporate reputation and even survival is at stake in the actions of any unit (for instance, some global financial and transportation companies meet these conditions).

As for the allocation of responsibility between corporate – and unit-level, we imagine that the forces of centralization will often push toward formulating strategy, policies, and procedures at the corporate level, with unit-level left to handle minor adaptations and implementation. But there are some implementation matters that should properly be left with corporate human resources.

The trade-off, of course, is between consistency in strategy and practices across units versus fitting those strategies and practices to specific situations. For instance, activities intended to improve diversity of the workforce are, in our experience, typically quite centralized. This is due at least in part to a belief that efforts to improve diversity involve (through externalities) local costs and global benefits, so that decentralizing these efforts might jeopardize getting the job done. Although we realize that some affirmative action imperatives may favor or even require centralization, our general inclination here is to move in the direction of decentralizing these activities as much as possible, except for those operational aspects (mostly reporting and compliance related) that must be managed centrally. Numerous commentators have noted that the mixed results achieved by many organizations in seeking to promote diversity partly reflect the fact that corporate programs and initiatives in this area are often not integrated with the strategy and normal operations of the business at the line level and consequently are not \”owned\” by line managers.

The larger point here is that compelling arguments can usually be made about why the sky will fall if virtually any activity is decentralized, not to mention self-serving arguments that can be made by a human resources organization interested in protecting its turf.

In every specific case, an analysis is called for a long two lines: What are the costs of potential inconsistencies in policy and practice across parts of the organization; and what are the benefits of customizing human resources activities to the particular context? A general analysis of these questions is impossible – it will depend too much on the specifics of the company.

http://www.arturvictoria.info/
http://sites.google.com/site/cliptheschoolbeginning/
http://sites.google.com/site/arturvictoriasite
http://adesg-europa.blogspot.com/

http://www.arturvictoria.info/
http://sites.google.com/site/cliptheschoolbeginning/
http://sites.google.com/site/arturvictoriasite
http://adesg-europa.blogspot.com/

Author Bio: http://www.arturvictoria.info/
http://sites.google.com/site/cliptheschoolbeginning/
http://sites.google.com/site/arturvictoriasite
http://adesg-europa.blogspot.com/

Category: Business Management
Keywords: Organization, behavior, human, information, career, responsible, planning, human resources